The Way Forward (Supporting Early Learning)

Addressing such questions as how to ensure all young children have access to high quality education, and what constitutes an appropriate curriculum between birth and 6 years of age, this text also looks at how best nursery nurses, playgroup leaders, teachers and childminders can work with parents to enhance education of children. This text aims to be sympathetic and accessible, and to provide guidance for adults working with children in a variety of formal and informal settings. Improving the effectiveness of early education is a particular focus. To this end, the authors emphasize that children from birth to age six have particular development needs, and they argue that those working with young children are most likely to meet these needs if they approach their work developmentally. The suggested solution is to offer children educational opportunities within a framework of an integrated and developmentally appropriate curriculum. The argument concludes that this approach would enable the acquisition of social skills, attitudes and dispositions by young children, as well as subject knowledge. This would hopefully match their individual personalitites, capabilities and levels of attainment more closely than (present) conventional learning frameworks.